The present invention relates to a novel species of bacterium useful in acetic acid fermentation and, more particularly, to a novel species of bacterium named Acetobacter altoacetigenes useful in the fermentative production of vinegars of high acetic acid concentration such as white vinegar.
In the fermentation production of vinegars having a high acetic acid concentration such as white vinegar and the like, it is generally understood in the prior art that the acetic acid bacteria used in the fermentation could not be isolated and stored. The fermentation production of such a vinegar is usually performed by the so-called inoculation process using seed vinegar, in which a portion of the fermentation liquid after completion of the fermentation or a portion of the fermenting broth, which contains the acetic acid bacteria, is used to inoculate the next batch of starting materials.
The acetic acid bacteria of the seed vinegar which have activity for producing a high concentration of acetic acid rapidly die so that the fermentation liquid after completion of the fermentation and/or a large volume of the fermenting broth is required for seed vinegar. A pure culture of the acetic acid bacterium is difficult to obtain in such an inoculation process and decrease in the productivity is sometimes unavoidable in the acetic acid production due to contamination with noxious bacteria so that the fermentation must be performed under complicated process control conditions.